Omahan charged in 2010 slaying tied to joining gang

An Omahan has been charged in U.S. District Court in connection with a 2010 slaying as part of alleged racketeering activity.

The indictment alleges that Kendell Tealer, 28, killed Mickle Graham of Omaha on Dec. 18 “for the purpose of gaining entrance to and maintaining and increasing position in the 40th Ave Crips, an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity.”

The charge was added to an earlier indictment charging Tealer with being a felon in possession of ammunition.

Tealer is being held at the Douglas County Correctional Center. The attorney listed in court records as representing Tealer could not be reached immediately Friday for comment.

Tealer was one of three charged with first-degree felony assault after a Dec. 18, 2010, fight at a gas station near 42nd Street and Ames Avenue.

Graham was one of the victims of the brawl but was not treated for injuries. Later that night, Graham, 33, was shot at a home nearby. He died later at a local hospital.

Tealer and the two others charged pleaded guilty to reduced charges in February 2011 and were sentenced to a year of probation and ordered to pay $800 each in restitution.

Another of the three, Jacquaez Simmis, later was found shot dead Nov. 19, 2011, near 33rd Avenue and Burdette Street. He was 22.

The maximum penalty in the new charge against Tealer, if he’s convicted, is death or life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Greg Gant, special agent in charge of the Kansas City Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said in a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office that the indictment was a testament to ongoing efforts by the bureau, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Omaha police “to bring to justice those who choose to use firearms as tools of violence and intimidation.”

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The U.S. Attorney’s Office on Dec. 19 dropped, for now, its murder case against a defendant in the racketeering case, Kendell Tealer. Three days later, Tealer pleaded guilty to a charge of being part of a racketeering conspiracy.